The present invention relates to cardiovascular catheters. In particular, the present invention relates to a catheter for temporary placement in the coronary sinus and right atrium for atrial cardioversion.
Electrophysiology (EP) catheters are well recognized and important tools for performing a variety of functions such as recording the heart's electrical signals, pacing the heart, or cardioverting the heart. For recording electrical activity in the heart, EP catheters are used to record intracardiac electrograms. When positioned in the heart, an EP catheter records the electrical activity between a pair of electrodes at the distal end of the catheter to provide a recordation of the electrical activity of a localized area of the heart near the electrode pair. By using multiple EP catheters positioned in the heart, one can map the sequence of myocardial depolarization as an electrical impulse traverses the heart.
EP catheters may also be used for pacing and/or cardioversion. For pacing, a pulse of electrical current is carried by the catheter from an external pacemaker to the heart where it causes cardiac cells near the catheter's electrodes to depolarize. The depolarization of these cardiac cells is then propagated across the heart as if the impulse arose from the heart itself. For cardioversion, a high energy electrical charge is applied to the heart using an EP catheter causing instant and rapid depolarization of all cardiac cells in an attempt to restore the heart to normal sinus rhythm.
Current EP catheters include distal portions having a variety of ring electrodes, tip electrodes, coil electrodes, and large surface electrodes. Moreover, some systems include multiple EP catheters. Despite the variety of catheter components and combinations of these components on one or more EP catheters, no prior art catheter(s) has yet achieved an optimal arrangement of electrically-active components for a coronary sinus catheter for atrial cardioversion.